The Sacrifice of the Storm
by Mathais
Summary: Storm Before the Calm AU. What if it took a little more than the beams to take out Lothor? A different set of events happen, leaving those left behind to pick up the pieces.


Story Title: The Sacrifice of the Storm

Author: Mathais

Rating: T

Fandom: Power Rangers Ninja Storm

Warnings: Character Death, Storm Before the Calm AU.

Pairings: None

Summary: What if it took a little more than the beams to take out Lothor? A different set of events happen, leaving those left behind to pick up the pieces.

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers Ninja Storm.

Notes: This came after watching the season finale and watching the Rangers attempt to grapple Lothor.

**OoOoO**

"You're going down Lothor." Red Wind snarled.

"Oh?" Lothor smirked as he held Cam's morpher in one hand. "Are you going to stop me?"

"We are!" Navy Thunder, Crimson Thunder, Blue Wind, and Yellow Wind stood to the sides of Red Wind.

"Well, let's get to it then." Lothor charged.

Red Wind slashed with his Ninja Blade, but Lothor dodged it and slammed his foot into his chest. Yellow Wind appeared next, covering his fallen friend, but Lothor punched him in the gut, sending the Ranger flying several feet away. Navy Thunder held his Thunder Staff out, but Lothor easily disarmed the Thunder Ranger and tossed him into some haystacks. Angered, Crimson Thunder only set himself up for a three hit combo that sent him into his brother. Blue Wind charged in, water flying from her hand. Lothor easily deflected the shot and fired a blast of dark chi that blew the Ranger into Yellow Wind's arms.

"Damn." Red Wind rubbed his chest as he took another stance.

Lothor laughed. "You're back again?"

"Of course!" Crimson Thunder drew his staff. He tossed it, the staff acting like an overgrown shuriken. Lothor kicked, sending it back into the owner as he threw blasts of dark chi from his hands, plowing into the Rangers.

"You're first." Lothor held Cam's morpher out in front of him and energy sucked into it. The Thunder Rangers screamed in pain before their costumes shattered, leaving Blake and Hunter behind.

"Blake!" Blue Wind shouted.

"He took our powers." Hunter groaned.

"Damn." Blake slammed his fist into the ground.

"Your powers run through me." Lothor held a fist up, the colors of crimson and navy flowing through him. "They'll lead to your downfall!"

"You forgetting about someone?" The dark ninja turned to see Cam staring toward him.

"Don't do it!" Red Wind shouted as he took a battle stance. "You don't have any powers!"

Lothor laughed darkly. "You think you can stop me?" Effortlessly, Lothor blew Cam away.

"Cam!" All three Wind Rangers shouted.

"You're next." Lothor leveled his gaze at the three Rangers left stand. He held out Cam's morpher, but the Wind Rangers quickly went out of his sights.

Red Wind appeared behind him and gave a spin kick. Lothor ducked right into Blue Wind's leg sweep as Yellow Wind smashed his head with his Ninja Blade. Lothor snarled and a shockwave of dark energy flew out of his body, knocking all three Rangers aside. Lothor pointed his orb at Yellow Wind and the Ranger suit shattered, leaving Dustin groaning. He pointed it at the other two Wind Rangers and their suits disappeared, leaving Shane and Tori powerless.

Weakly, the powerless Rangers grouped together.

"Damn! He stole our powers!" Hunter growled.

"What gave you that idea?" Cam retorted sarcastically.

"This isn't the time to fight each other guys." Tori reminded.

"What do we do?" Blake whispered.

Meanwhile, Dustin and Shane shared a look over the heads of the others. Quietly, Dustin nudged Tori. The water ninja looked up and nodded slightly, understanding. With a nod himself, Dustin delved into the conversation. "Like, how do we defeat him? I mean, we can't just kill him outright. Not with him having our powers."

Lothor's cackle drew their attention. "I have all your powers! You're just a powerless bunch of people who can't defend the Earth. Face it! You've lost!"

That made Shane blood boil. He clenched his fist as he walked directly in front of Lothor, a few yards between them, with Tori to his left and Dustin, the right. "We won't lose." The three ninjas stared sharply at the dark ninja. "We won't give up. We're not powerless!"

Shane took his post-morphing pose. "Power of Air!"

Dustin also took his. "Power of Earth!"

Tori followed suit with her own. "Power of Water!"

Shane's right fingers, Tori's right, and Dustin's left entwined themselves as a storm brew in front of them. A blue beam shot from Tori's fingers, a red from Shane, and yellow from Dustin. Together, they sent a force out that launched at Lothor.

The dark ninja howled in pain as he was slowly blown back toward the Abyss of Evil.

"No!" Lothor shouted. "I won't let you!" He started to fight back with his on powers. A counter storm of darkness appeared to push back the Wind ninjas' attack.

"What are they doing?" Blake asked in awe.

"It's the ultimate art of the Wind Ninja Academy." Cam answered. "The Storm. It's only been used twice throughout the history of the Academy. It can only be used when three ninjas of each element come together and have a bond strong enough to do this."

"It's amazing." Hunter stared as his friends tried to fight off Lothor's counterstrike.

"But it's a stalemate." The Thunder Rangers turned to Cam. "Lothor's fighting back. The guys are too tired to effectively use it."

They turned back to the scene. "You can do it guys!"

Dustin started breathing heavily. "I don't know if I can keep up with this dudes."

"Neither can I Dustin." Tori responded, tone strained.

"We have to!" Shane commanded. "For the sake of the world! It is our job to fight Lothor."

"But what if the prophecy wasn't complete." Tori whispered.

"Prophecies are fickle." Dustin managed to get out. "What if Lothor gets reborn or something? Even if we shove him into the Abyss of Evil, he might return when we can't fight. I don't want anyone else to go through this."

Shane nodded. "I understand."

"Shall we?" Tori asked, her tone slightly amused.

They flicked their eyes over to their comrades and waved with their free hands.

"They're going to do something stupid." Cam whispered.

Slowly, the three Wind ninjas' attack was overtaken by Lothor's. When it reached them, there was a loud explosion that's force knocked the three remaining Rangers down.

"Shane!" Cam called.

"Tori!" Blake screamed.

"Dustin!" Hunter cried.

Lothor merely laughed. "I win! The world is mine!"

"Not very likely." The evil ninja looked up in shock as the three Wind ninjas locked onto him, forcing him to drop Cam's morpher. Their own morphers followed as they pushed him back toward the Abyss of Evil.

"No!" The ninja struggled, but their grip was like iron.

"If we're going down..." Shane growled.

"...you're going down with us..." Tori continued.

"...and we're going to make sure you stay down!" Dustin finished, just as they fell over the cliff.

"No!" The remaining Rangers shouted, but a flash of light blinded them.

When it was all over, Cam, Hunter, and Blake stared at the spot where their friends had taken their enemy with them.

In their place were three statues. One was of Tori, doing her post-morphing stance and proud in her attire. The next was of Dustin, also doing his post-morphing pose, unmorphed, but in his ninja outfit. The final statue was of Shane, in the middle, doing the pose he always does after morphing. The Abyss of Evil was nowhere to be found, the ground was untouched.

For once, Cam let the tears flow. "I can't believe this..."

"They're gone." Blake whispered, emotions in shock. "They're gone."

Hunter fell to his knees. "I can't believe this. They - they..."

"They sacrificed themselves." Sensei came up to them, eyes shining with unshed tears. "They wanted to make sure that Lothor and the Abyss of Evil were never to return."

"Wouldn't the Abyss of Evil have self-destructed with Lothor and our powers in it?" Cam whirled to his father.

Marah shook her head as she and her sister came up to them. "Uncle had dropped your morpher in the struggle, leaving all of your powers behind." she explained, picking up the four discarded devices. "There was always the chance that he wouldn't have and could have escape. Or his spirit could have been reincarnated full of hatred and evil for another team to fight."

Kapri turned to the statues. "Can't you tell? Their spirits are guarding Lothor and the Abyss of Evil is no more. It's merely a line of magic."

The tears came then for the Thunder Rangers.

"Damn it guys, you didn't have to do that." Hunter whispered, letting the tears flow unashamedly.

"Why?" Blake croaked, throat tight.

"Selflessness." All five turned to Sensei. "They didn't want anyone else to go through the battles they did. Come now, we must prepare funeral services."

The three Rangers and two ex-evil ninjas-in-training meekly followed their last stability.

**OoOoO**

The service was over.

Crying family members and those who wished to pay respects were there.

Kelly was there, sobbing uncontrollably in front of Dustin's statue.

Tori's sister, whose name none of them caught, was in front of Tori's.

Porter was in front of his little brother's statue, tears streaking down his face.

The parents were also crying as Sensei walked up to the statues.

"You have done well, my children." Sensei whispered. "Please, don't look at this as a failure, but as a new beginning. Keep my brother in check, please."

Walking to the parents, Sensei gave a bow. "I am the master of the Rangers, the one who taught them in their ninja ways." He closed his eyes briefly. "They were good student who defended the Earth many times. I had wished to confer these upon them, but as I cannot, I shall give them to you." He handed to each of the parents a scroll. "This gives them the title as full-fledged ninjas."

"Thank you." Shane's mom said hoarsely.

"I'm sorry." Sensei bowed as he returned to the statues. "These belong to you." Slowly, he strapped their individual morphers onto the statues. Gray fluttered across their surfaces, as they became a part of the statues themselves.

"Why?" Porter turned to the remaining Rangers. "Why didn't you help them?" His tone was dark and full of anger.

Cam was at a loss for words. The two Thunder Ninjas were also.

"Hey, don't take it out on them." Everyone gaped as they turned to the voice. Sitting on top of their respective statues were Shane, Dustin, and Tori in their ninja garments, though they were slightly ethereal.

"They did the best they could." Tori continued from Shane's train of thought.

"Besides, we didn't clue them in on the plan." Dustin added.

"Shane." Porter whispered.

Tori smiled. "Hey guys. We just wanted to pop in for a final good bye."

"Lothor and the Abyss are being nasty right now, so we're going to have our hands full now." Dustin continued.

"Just don't grieve too hard, we want to see you all right and living your lives." Shane smiled.

"See ya!" The three figures faded.

No one said anything for a moment.

Blake was the one who broke the silence. "We won't."

**OoOoO**

He was here again.

He didn't know why.

He just always had to come again.

To this spot.

Cam Watanabe sat in front of the three statues of his friends, just gazing at them.

He started to talk. "You know, nothing's the same without you guys. I'm so used to when it's just us seven, no one else. Nothing can compare. We have all the ninjas back, but it's not the same. No one's at the same level you are at and that makes sparring a complete bore. I mean, many of these people aren't that strong or quick or focused. You could probably kick all their butts and not break a sweat, if you tried." He started to babble, a habit he picked up after the near-total destruction of his emotional walls from the latest happenings in his life. "Hunter's a teacher now at the Thunder Ninja Academy. Hard to believe, right? Blake's an instructor too. He doesn't want to leave Hunter. I can't blame him for that."

"No one can." Cam turned to see his cousins, Marah and Kapri, in their ninja suits. Kapri was the one who spoke.

Marah walked up to Dustin's statue. "This is a hard time for everyone. You can't be alone." She softly kissed the cheek. "I'm sorry for the deception Dustin. I can never make it up to you, but I'll try."

Kapri nodded. "Being alone is scary. The only thing scarier is being alone in a crowd." She looked up to her sister and cousin. "The only way I survived was because of Marah."

"And the same for you Kapri." Marah nodded.

Feeling an opening that was Dustin shining through, Cam looked up to the figures. "Can you believe it? Kapri and Marah are Wind ninjas. You'd never expect that, huh guys?"

"Hey!" Both girls fumed at the same time before bursting out laughing.

"Did you see the new ones? Those three?" Marah asked quietly after they had calmed down.

"They're so much alike it almost hurts." Cam admitted freely. He sighed and stood. "That's enough brooding for today. There's this one arrogant guy that I want to show up."

Both girls raised an eyebrow.

"Shane and Tori." Cam gave a fanged grin.

They nodded as Cam went over to the statues one more time. Placing a flower in front of each, he turned and left with his cousins. Cam stopped for a moment, just as a breeze scented with the sea and forest blew past him. He breathed it in, smiling, as he left.

A white carnation, a myrtle, and a daisy stood waving in the wind, the statues overlapping with flesh for just a moment.

**OoOoO**

End Notes (2010): I removed the god-awful framing script that I couldn't stand to see anymore, but that and the line breaks are the only things that have changed, except some grammar errors.


End file.
